


A Sword Bared at the Moon

by DracoOmega



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Action, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 21:18:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11906409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoOmega/pseuds/DracoOmega
Summary: Only the arrogant could think themselves capable of besting a Lunarian in single combat and only fool would attempt it for the sake of a promise made to a woman long dead. But what is Tenshi if not an arrogant fool?





	A Sword Bared at the Moon

Footsteps echoed through the quiet lanes of the Lunar Capital – sharp, deliberate, implacable. Their owner passed mansion after immaculate mansion, flawless gardens of sand and reed, and art of the most subtle beauty without ever sparing a glance from the path in front of her – so fierce was the resolve upon her face and the purpose in her stride. If one hadn’t just watched her walk in circles for twenty minutes, they might even think she knew where she was going.

“Would it  _kill_  them to put up a sign?!” Tenshi growled.

Perhaps expecting such legendary isolationists to care about the tourist experience had been ill-advised and so she turned her irritation upon the nearest living creature instead.

“ _Hey, you!_ ”

The lone rabbit in earshot stiffened so abruptly that she dropped the mallet she’d been carrying on the ground and then glanced at the alleyway behind her in the futile hope this statement had been addressed to someone else.

“Yes, you,” Tenshi continued. “Tell where I can find Lord Moonbutt McHead-up-his-ass.”

“…who?”

“ **Tsukuyomi.** ” She all but hissed the word.

The rabbit’s eyes went wide as saucers. Not even in her wildest imaginings had she envisioned someone speaking so disdainfully of the tallest pillar of their society. Just what sort of terrifying person  _was_  this intruder?

“I- I don’t know,” she stammered. “I’ve never met him. I’m only a rabbit. I pound mochi….”

“Well, you’ll be able to pound mochi on his face by the time I’m through with him. Where is he?”

“Er, I don’t know if I’m supposed to- I mean, they told us not to go and-  _Alright, alright,_ _I’ll tell you_ _!_ ” she cried, shielding her face with her hands as though she expected to be struck at any moment.

Tenshi hadn’t exactly  _meant_  to flash her teeth at the rabbit – that was merely a physical inevitability of glowering so hard – but it appeared to have a desirable effect nonetheless. The rabbit relayed a frantic series of directions to Lord Tsukuyomi’s palace, her voice seeming to rise in pitch and tempo with every other word until the final instructions came out as little more than a squeak. Tenshi nodded once, then eyed the rabbit with the kind of dreary appraisal one might give a mangy dog.

“I thought you guys were supposed to be slaves or something,” she said.

“Er, no? I mean, well… um… maybe?” It was an odd question, now that the rabbit considered it. She’d never had a choice in how she spent her days and she  _certainly_  wasn’t allowed to leave. She knew she was intrinsically inferior to her overseers and that no amount of diligence on her part could ever change that. But was that really enough to make her a slave?

“Have a little more pride in yourself,” Tenshi muttered. “They don’t deserve your loyalty  _or_  your obedience.”

But before the rabbit could figure out how to respond to this, the celestial was gone – her footfalls ringing upon the stone walkways like a blacksmith’s hammer.

 

* * *

 

Tenshi made little attempt to disguise her approach to the palace, simply following the instructions she’d been given to the letter. It mattered not. Many stared as she passed through the busy streets near the Capital’s center, but none moved to stop her. She was imperious, inviolate,  _a celestial._ And before long, her destination lay in front of her – a spired pagoda in the middle of a lake of purest blue, its surface undisturbed by even the slightest ripple. Heaven itself never looked so unblemished.

Tenshi sneered. “Figures  _he’d_  have the place that looks like a giant prick.”

She stepped forward onto the narrow bridge of land which linked palace and shore, its surface paved with intricate stonework and flanked by silent lanterns. It was a solemn processional onto a god’s demesne and the lake around it was an ornament. No fish scurried within its waters, no lillies rested upon its surface; the Moon was too pure to admit such things. It was a perfect, lifeless mirror reflecting an equally lifeless society. It was even worse than back home, Tenshi thought – at least in Heaven they had the decency to spend their days singing and feasting instead of looking down on people.

A voice from behind broke her reverie – its words clear and sharp and utterly commanding.

“That’s far enough.”

Tenshi grinned without even turning around. “Says who?” She took another, very deliberate step forward.

But just one.

The moment her foot touched the ground, a dozen blades burst from the stone around it, encircling her like a cage of razor-sharp metal. She hissed under her breath and glanced behind her – or at least as far as the tachi surrounding her face would allow.

“State your purpose, celestial,” the woman commanded. She was tall and almost martial in her bearing. Her lavender hair hung in a single loose ponytail at her side and the sword she was gripping was sunk half its length into the ground at her feet – a sword that was an exact duplicate of the ones entrapping Tenshi.

The celestial’s eyes hardened. “I’m here to keep a promise 500 years overdue.” The words came out almost as a challenge.

She took take measure of her opponent – the confidence with which she carried herself, the belt which hung loosely upon her hip, and particularly the bright yellow ribbon with which she tied her hair. She’d heard all the stories about the Scarlet Devil’s failed invasion of the moon, of course, but while she didn’t think very much of Remilia, anyone capable of holding  _Reimu_  captive for a month was worth taking seriously.

“You are not permitted in the Lunar Capital,” Yorihime continued. “How did you get here?”

Tenshi smirked despite herself. “Worried your impenetrable defenses aren’t so impenetrable after all?”

One of the swords surrounding her dug into the small of her spine – just enough to make it clear that it might cut much deeper should its wielder wish. Tenshi grumbled.  “Fine,  _fine._  I trailed one of the Dragon Palace’s messengers on her way back home. Er, the one with long red hair.” She hoped there was someone who actually fit that description. Iku could be a royal pain in the ass, but she’d still feel kind of bad if she got her mixed up in all this.

Yorihime stared at Tenshi in silence for several moments, as if she too were taking measure of an adversary. Tenshi tried to pry an arm loose from the cage of swords she was trapped in, but the blades just tightened around it.

“A rabbit told me you planned to assault Lord Tsukuyomi,” Yorihime said at last.

“ _Spineless little_ _sycophant_ ,” Tenshi muttered under her breath, then locked eyes with the Lunarian. “And so what if I am? You can’t tell me Lord Dickmansion doesn’t have it coming.”

If the insult had been intended to faze her opponent, Yorihime showed no sign of reacting to it. “I can’t let you do that.”

Tenshi wrenched one foot free of its bondage and grinned fangs at her. “ **Then just try and stop me!** ”

She stomped that foot upon the ground and the earth reverberated violently. Cracks snaked across the length of the bridge in an instant and the land beneath her tore itself apart. The blades confining her fell away, some tumbling into the lake while others were snapped clean in half by the faulting rocks. She sprung free.

“ _World Creation Press!_ ”

An enormous keystone slammed down from the sky above Yorihime – larger even than the one she’d placed beneath the shrine. This was no playful danmaku or warning shot; it was a heavenly meteor and Yorihime was directly in its shadow.

“ _Lord Kanayamahiko._ ”

The Lunarian’s expression was as calm while she spoke the words as it had been from the start. Even with a keystone hurtling towards her with enough force to level a castle, she hadn’t bothered to move a single limb. She didn’t need to. When the tip of the keystone neared Yorihime’s head, it simply crumbled away to dust. There was no impact, no earth-rending shockwave. The keystone just parted in a waterfall of sand that collected gently around the Lunarian’s feet as if guided by an unseen hand. Not even the ribbon on her head had been sullied by it.

Tenshi was already rushing forward. This wasn’t Gensokyo and this wasn’t a duel between friends. She was here to right a wrong left long unpunished and no arrogant bodyguard was going to stand in her way – not even if she called down a  _million_  gods.

“ _O_ _master_ _of stone and metal,”_  Yorihime intoned solemnly,  _“R_ _eturn this celestials’s_ _creation_ _onto her_ _a hundredfold_ _!_ ”

The sand around her rose up and took form: swords and spears and naginata – dozens of them, perhaps even hundreds. They aimed themselves towards the barrelling celestial and took flight in an instant. Tenshi’s eyes went wide and she narrowly banked away from the first volley, but there were too many, too suddenly. One spear drove itself into her shoulder, another into her arm, a third between her ribs.

She barely slowed. A true celestial could shrug off a landslide and she was better than any of them. Just another few feet….

“ _Sword of Scarlet-_ ”

Yorihime raised one hand in front of her. “ _Lord Naruikazuchi, let your heavenly cry silence_ _this interloper_ _!_ ”

A flash of lightning snaked forth from her fingertips with a shriek like a thousand keening hawks. It struck Tenshi squarely in the center of her chest and whatever the celestial had been about to say was swallowed by it completely.

_Better than any of them…._

With inhuman stubbornness, Tenshi gritted her teeth and manifested her weapon, cleaving through the tendril of coruscating power linking her and Yorihime. The lightning quivered violently as her blade passed through it and then split apart in a spray of scarlet mist. She collapsed onto the ground.

“The Sword of Hisou?” Yorihime questioned, eyes fixed firmly upon the blade in Tenshi’s hand. Its scarlet length flickered, wavering like an autumn leaf on an unseen breeze. She appraised the celestial again, as if seeing her for the first time. “You are of the Hinanawi?”

“That’s right,” Tenshi replied, pulling herself back onto her feet and attempting to will sensation back into her limbs.

“Why would one of Heaven’s most venerated seek to harm Lord Tsukuyomi?“

A hint of a smirk traced Tenshi’s face once more – a frighteningly incongruous expression for one with weapons still impaling their body. “Let me tell you a story.”

She straightened out her dress and then took hold of the spear in her shoulder, prying it loose with only the faintest hint of a grimace. “Once upon a time there was a family of priests who lived in the mountains and spent _all_  their time managing earthquakes. If a storeroom collapsed, it was because they willed it. If a village survived unscathed, it was because they ensured it. They were  _so_  devoted to their work that even the gods took notice.”

“I am aware of the special dispensation your clan received,” Yorihime noted curtly.

“Of course, with so many important errands to perform, they  _certainly_  didn’t have time to spend with their only daughter,” Tenshi continued, seeming to ignore the Lunarian entirely. “No, that would just be silly – that’s what servants were for, right? But fortunately for that girl – let’s call her… Chiko – one of those retainers treated her just like the little sister she’d always wished she’d had. She took her for picnics, taught her how to make paper cranes and play the koto – all the kinds of things her parents  _wouldn’t_. With them it was always rituals and traditions and ‘carrying on the family name’.” She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm from her voice.

“I fail to see how any of this is relevant.”

“ _Then shut up and listen!”_

She took a moment to compose herself again, then assumed her sweetest, most mawkish smile.

“One day when she was 13, Chiko’s father took her aside and told her the clan had just been granted a great honor – they were all moving to Heaven! She’d get to fly and dance upon the clouds and feast on food sweeter than anything anywhere on Earth. It sounded wonderful! There was just one catch – their retainers didn’t get to come. They were branch family. They weren’t pure enough, not  _ready_  to be celestials. ‘Some day’, he told her.” She flashed a bitter smile at Yorihime. “Funny, huh? I thought celestials weren’t supposed to lie.”

“I’m sure Lord Hinanawi spoke the truth as he saw it.”

“Oh, he  _always does_ ,” Tenshi growled. “But I didn’t give a shit back then and I’m not about to start now. I swore to Chikame on the day we left that I’d see her in Heaven again. That I’d spend a hundred years shouting at the Dragon himself if that’s what it took.”

“And did you?”

Rather than answering, Tenshi turned to watch the cerulean arc of the Earth as it sunk beneath the Lunar horizon. The lifeless stasis of the Lunar Capital made it look even more vibrant by comparison. “You know what they think down there? Heaven’s full. Enlightenment’s on hold because we ran out of room. Of course, we  _both_ know that’s bullshit.”

“Lord Tsukuyomi has no judicial authority over Bhava-Agra. That fall squarely within the jurisdiction of-”

“Oh  _please_ ,” Tenshi spat. “Save that line for someone who doesn’t know better. Bhava-Agra is the spiritually nearest realm to the moon and Lord Dickmansion here just didn’t like the idea of so many 'impure’ humans taking up residence that close to his stupid lifeless utopia. He leaned on Heaven and Heaven caved; not worth getting into a power struggle over a few lowly humans, right?” She shook her head. “For years, I thought the Celestial Bureaucracy was just drowning in its own red tape and sanctimony, but that wasn’t it at all. It was always  **him**.”

“Your brashness does you no credit, celestial,” Yorihime chided. “By your own word, it’s been centuries. Has the Yama not passed their own judgment on her already?”

“You mean ‘Is she dead’,” Tenshi spat, but the ensuing silence was answer enough. Ordinary humans didn’t live to be 500.

Yorihime shook her head. “Only a child rails against the order of the universe. The Yama’s judgments are absolute. It is only right and proper that the impure remain crawling upon the Earth where they belong.”

“ **Bullshit!** ” The Sword of Hisou flared angrily in Tenshi’s grip. “If my father gets to live in Heaven and she doesn’t, then there’s no justice in the universe at all. I’m gonna fix that. I’m gonna make things better. Maybe it’s too late for her now, but I still owe it to her memory and to the girl I used to be.  _And you’re in my way_.” Her eyes flashed dangerously.

“You can’t win,” Yorihime stated simply. “I’ve seen the way you carry yourself in battle. You are impulsive, overconfident, unaware of your own limitations.” Tenshi bristled with each new insult, but somehow kept her ground. “Among the enlightened of heaven,” Yorihime continued, “you may indeed rank a warrior, but you are 10,000 years too early to challenge the Moon.”

“Not so long as I’ve got this.” Tenshi’s grip tightened on her weapon’s hilt until her knuckles turned white. The Sword of Hisou, Blade of Scarlet Perception –  a weapon of the enlightened that could combat even gods. It drew out the nature of those it touched, manifesting their spirit in scarlet mist; one slash could divine the essence of any living being and bring it to bear against them – even a Lunarian.

“I am aware of your weapon’s power,” Yorihime replied. “It will avail you not; there is no spirit on the Moon  _or_ in Heaven that can touch me and neither will your blade.”

Tenshi sunk into a crouch and grinned at her. “Wanna bet?”

“I have given you enough indulgences already.  _Awanagi no Mikoto!_ ” Yorihime raised her hand. “ _Awana_ _m_ _i no Mikoto!_ _Bind this child in fetters as unyielding as the tide_ _s_ _!”_

Two great columns of spray burst from the lake on either side of Tenshi, then four, six, eight, their surfaces weaving into rippling chains of purest water – chains whose links could no more be severed by any weapon than could the oceans themselves.

Tenshi just grinned. “ _Scarlet Weather Shroud of all Gensokyo!_ ”

Her sword’s blade flared like a geyser that had just been uncorked and spirit surged forth from it, so dense that it was almost white – spirit gathered on a hundred visits to that land below. She felt the earnest drizzle of an ordinary magician, the unrelenting wind of a tengu journalist, the shimmering frost of a cocksure ice fairy and a thousand others like her, from the spirits which dwelled within the oldest mountains to the tiniest blades of grass. Emotions, ambitions,  _life_.

The shackles encircling Tenshi abruptly lost cohesion and plummeted back into the lake. The swords in her side disintegrated. Yorihime leapt backwards, eyes wide with genuine horror.

Tenshi took one look at her and began to cackle. “Oh my god, it’s true! It’s actually true! I almost didn’t believe that star spangled shit-disturber.” She shook her head. “ _Fairies?_  What kind of a lame-ass weakness is that?”

“ _Have you lost your mind?!_ ” Yorihime cried. “That much impurity will make even a celestial lose their agelessness!”

“So what?” Tenshi replied as the spirit pouring out of her sword engulfed her in a brilliant scarlet aura. “If some shinigami wants to try taking my soul, I’ll just kick their ass too.”

The Lunarian tightened her grip on her own weapon and locked eyes on Tenshi with an earnestness she’d not needed in millennia. “Did Junko send you?”

“ _I_  sent me,” she countered. “Because Tsukuyomi left the only family I ever loved to die alone and I’m gonna pay him back ten times over.”

“Impossible. Celestials can’t hold grudges.”

Tenshi just laughed. “In case you haven’t been paying attention, I’m a really,  _really_  lousy celestial, but that’s exactly why I’m gonna kick your ass.” She brandished her weapon, its blade still streaming with pride and ardor, curiosity and petty jealousy and all those other things that made life interesting which the heavens had learned to disdain. Just for today, she’d cast aside her celestial name and all its privileges. Just for today, she was once again that little girl who’d sworn to rail against the heavens.

She rushed forward.

“ _Scarlet Weather Rapture!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a random prompt fill for Tenshi + Yorihime + 'Old Promises', but it grew large enough that I think it stands fine on its own.


End file.
